OgilvyAction

Report by Rick Roth

2007 was a landmark year for OgilvyAction. We made significant investments in the future of our young company – investments we are confident will bring us strong results going forward.

Pick up any newspaper or trade journal and you cannot avoid reading about how the world of marketing is changing. With consumers in full control, retailers more powerful than ever, and the impact of traditional media still unpredictable, our clients need to make measurable impact leading up to the sale where it matters most... The Last Mile™ . We now have the services, the thought leadership and the global network to help them win.

The single most important event of the year for us was bringing the activation companies of the Ogilvy Group together under one name, OgilvyAction. The new identity has had an extremely positive impact on our business, our people, how we attract talent and how we go to market. Our clients responded with strong support. We see increases in new business opportunities, and we are gaining visibility in the industry.

We have made it clear that we are no ordinary activation company. Our Last Mile platform resonates with marketers across the globe. The fact that we can deliver best practices across a global network gives us true differentiation in the activation space. In 2007, we expanded our operation across several emerging markets in India, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

We have committed to delivering thought leadership in the areas of shopper and trade marketing and our clients are rewarding us with more business. Our experiential and field marketing disciplines have been engines of growth. Our retail design and sports marketing capabilities further increase our competitive advantage.

One of the most important opportunities for OgilvyAction is to capitalize on what we call Digital Last Mile Activation. Today a consumer's path toward a purchase decision can take place online, on the street and in the store. With each passing day, there is stunning new technology that allows us to connect, engage and influence in ways never seen before. At OgilvyAction we are leveraging digital technology to help our clients stay a step ahead.

In 2007, we launched our Last Mile Analytics™, a suite of tools that provide critical insights into how consumers become shoppers and how shoppers become buyers. These tools put answers on our clients' desktops in real-time and prove our commitment to providing measurable results. Client feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

We are focused on doing the kind of work that will influence both how consumers act and how retailers become advocates for our clients' brands. With tools like Shopper Analytics, Market Analytics, In-Store Optimizer and Contact Analytics, we continue to prove that we are anchored in what is most important to our clients. We developed CheckPoint Planning, our road map for getting to strategically brilliant work. The process forces us to consider the interaction between the consumer, the customer and the brand relationship in any work we do. It has become our catalyst for generating insights, ideas and results.

Our platform, processes and tools are key to our success. But our real momentum will come from big ideas that make the cash register ring. We are celebrating great work across the company and constantly raising the bar. We are very proud that we won more industry awards in 2007 than ever before.

The Ogilvy portfolio of clients is our priority for growth. There has never been more demand for our services and we have barely scratched the surface.

OgilvyAction now sits in a very definite position of strength. As always, it comes down to our people who bring it all together. Each and every one of our employees is becoming a Last Mile evangelist.

Each is charged with helping us hunt, helping us advocate, helping us take OgilvyAction to the next level.